Tag "National park"

A forest ranger has been killed in Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, weeks after the reserve was reopened to tourists.
Virunga, home to critically endangered mountain gorillas as well as hundreds of other rare species, was shut for more than eight months for a review of security after a series of attacks on staff last year.
A statement from the park said the ranger, Freddy Mahamba Muliro, died during an attack on a ranger position in its central sector.
It gave no further details.
It is a tragedy that his young life has been cut short in dedicated service to Virunga.
Now more than ever, Ranger Freddy’s death highlights the very real threats to our rangers in their protection of Virunga national park,” said Emmanuel de Merode, the park’s director.
In May one of the many local militias, Mai Mai, attacked a vehicle carrying tourists from the city of Goma, about 30 miles from the park headquarters, to their accommodation.
A 25-year-old ranger was shot dead, a Congolese driver was wounded and two British tourists, Robert Jesty and Bethan Davies, were held by the militia overnight.
Following that attack, De Merode, a Belgian aristocrat, said the decision had been taken reluctantly to close Virunga to tourists to allow a thorough review of security precautions and reinforcement of the 700 rangers deployed to keep animals and visitors safe.
The park, located in the DRC’s North Kivu province, has a reputation as one of the most dangerous conservation projects in the world.

On his second day as interior secretary, Ryan Zinke told his staff that America’s national parks were “the face” of the Interior Department.
Less than two years later — on Jan. 2, the 12th day of President Donald Trump’s ongoing partial government shutdown — Zinke exited the department under a cloud of ethics scandals, and Americans instead saw national parks and monuments around the country overflowing with trash and human waste.
“There’s an old adage that park rangers get paid in sunsets,” he said.
There’s an old adage that park rangers get paid in sunsets.
Meanwhile, Bernhardt’s memorandum allowing parks to drain entrance fee monies ― every last cent, if necessary, as The Hill reported ― means the primary resource for addressing the maintenance backlog is being depleted, Jarvis said.
And when the shutdown finally ends, the parks will have to spend additional funds cleaning up and assessing the damage.
“It’s kind of a triple whammy,” Jarvis said.
The Trump administration’s decision to keep parks and monuments open goes back to the brief partial government shutdown in early 2018.
The Interior Department and the National Park Service did not respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment Friday.
“This is mortgaging the park service’s future,” he said of the administration’s approach, including its decision to drain entrance fee revenue.

But during the government shutdown, some fine folks did just that.
Since the government shut down 20 days ago, Joshua Tree, which is about the size of Delaware and located two hours east of Los Angeles, has been forced to reduce its number of rangers from 100 to only eight.
During the shutdown, with Joshua Tree National Park open but no staff on duty, visitors cut down Joshua trees so they could drive into sensitive areas where vehicles are banned.
https://t.co/EbSB4bF8hK pic.twitter.com/8kVFClVqxZ — John Upton (@johnupton) January 10, 2019 And it isn’t just Joshua Tree bearing the brute force of the barbaric human.
“I think there are a number of things that are not very obvious to the general public, like the trash and toilets [are], that are pretty consequential when you have a shutdown,” National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis told the the National Parks Traveler.
While the sight of overflowing waste and cut Joshua trees is shocking (and quite frankly repulsive), there is also major damage happening out-of-sight.
The longest-running research initiative in the Shenandoah National park — 200,000 acres in the mountains of Virginia — has come to a grinding halt during the government shutdown.
The study examines the impact of acid rain in the mid-Atlantic forests, and the research has been used to understand the effects of air pollution on natural systems.
No big deal, unless you like breathing clean air.
Earlier this month, Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt instructed all national parks to use fee revenues in order to keep parks open during the shut down.

From: Coun Paul Andrews (Ind), Ryedale District Council, Malton Town Council, Habton Parish Council.
FRACKING has not gone away – even if much of the KM8 scheme at Kirby Misperton has now been dismantled.
KM8 is in limbo because Third Energy were unable to satisfy the Government in regard to their financial viability for fracking at the site.
This prohibits all fracking in the National Park and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but, outside these prohibited areas, it allows 10 drill pads, each two hectares in area (approximately twice the size of KM8) every hundred square kilometres.
The JWMP was given a public examination before a government inspector, Mrs Elizabeth Ord.
The inspector found that the JWMP was sound, apart from some tweaking which was agreed.
However, within days, officials of the Department of Communities and Local Government requested copies of the plan and its policies, particularly those relating to fracking.
My conclusion is that the Government and the industry will stop at nothing to get what they want – which includes the total desecration of our beautiful countryside including the National Park and the AONB.
This is why they have already started consultation on changing the planning legislation so as to allow, without planning permission, test fracks such as those which were given planning permission at KM8 everywhere.
Another consultation is taking place on whether all fracking applications will be referred to a government quango in London for determination.

Sixty-eight National Parks along the coastal U.S. could be in danger from devastating oil spills if President Donald Trump’s plan to open 90 percent of coastal waters to offshore oil drilling goes through, a report released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Parks Conservation Association found.
Parks threatened include iconic pieces of American culture and landscape, from the Statue of Liberty National Monument to the Everglades National Park to Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. “These places matter, and we cannot completely protect them if we start to drill off our coasts,” senior vice president of conservation programs for the National Parks Conservation Association Mark Wenzler told The San Francisco Chronicle.
Expanded drilling threatens six national sites in the Bay Area alone.
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the expanded drilling plans in January in response to an executive order by Trump ordering the rethinking of drilling bans implemented by former President Barack Obama, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. “It may be stating the obvious to some,” Franz Matzner, director of federal affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The San Francisco Chronicle of the report, “but it may not be obvious to the Trump administration, which is barreling ahead with a plan that is unprecedented.”
Oil washes up on park beaches to this day.
Finally, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill harmed every island in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, where plants, wildlife and archeaological sites are still recovering.
All of these parks would be in danger again if Trump and Zinke’s drilling proposal goes ahead.
According to the NRDC blog post announcing the report, more than 1.3 million Americans have sent comments opposing the plan to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Thousands Sign Petition to Stop Starbucks from Opening According to reports, a Starbucks could soon be coming to Yosemite National Park.
The park’s concessionaire, Yosemite Hospitality (a division of Aramark), is working with the global coffee chain to begin selling Starbucks coffee in the food court at Yosemite Valley Lodge.
The space is slated to open this spring and serve soups, sandwiches, salads and, you guessed it, coffee.
“And this is just one of the many improvements we will be making in coming years.” Or is it?
“Multinational corporations have no place in our National Parks.
People all over the country — and the world, for that matter — are concerned about the sort of example this will set for future decisions in Yosemite, as well as other national parks around the nation.
This could start a trend that has already seen the introduction of corporate sponsors like Budweiser, REI and Subaru for the NPS.” What Are the Possible Solutions?
While there’s clearly animosity toward Starbucks because of the fact that it represents “Corporate America,” Aramark says Starbucks has “a long track record of and deep commitment to social and environmental impact, which we believe will benefit Yosemite National Park.” While it’s possible that the Starbucks plan has already been tabled for good — online job listings were recently removed — there’s actually a case to be made that Starbucks could be better than the alternative.
There’s still progress to be made in this area, but it could be done and could serve as an example for all other stores.
What solutions would you suggest?

Many of us have visited national parks while on vacation, awed by their grandeur and natural beauty.
But have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up to such a breathtaking landscape every day?
It’s transformative for your coffee as well.” People who live near national parks are treated each day to natural wonders that can include majestic mountains, sparkling lakes, arid deserts, lush forests and an array of wildlife.
“Olympic National Park is unique in that way.
It’s not just mountains.
We’ve really had this great access to a lot of natural phenomenon that a lot of folks don’t have.” The Bergmans, who live on the west side of the national park at the foot of the Olympic Mountains, like to take advantage of all the park has to offer.
Living near a national park allows a homeowner an escape from everyday life and a chance to enjoy the peace and tranquility that living among nature provides.
“There’s so much going on out here that makes it a wonderful place to live and I think that has contributed to our quality of life.
I wouldn’t have traded this period of time in my life for anything else.” If natural wonders in your back yard appeal to you, we have some homes to show you.
So whether you are seeking the subtropical wilderness of the Everglades or the glacial landscape of Alaska’s Lake Clark, the lush forests of the Smoky Mountains or the arid desert of Arches National Park, there is a national park for you to call home.

Clean water?
Fresh air?
Unspoiled national parks?
Science?
Gardening on the Planet, Ministry of Controversy, Science Says After appointing what are essentially bizzaro-world choices to lead the EPA, and other government offices that might affect the natural environment, the current administration has removed key protections through executive order and plans to get rid of many more through upcoming budget changes.
Oh, and removing the word “science” from the EPA’s mission.
On its own, the EPA has allowed farm use of a pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that was to be banned, but even more troubling are the structural changes that would limit the agency’s adherence to scientific studies (such as the one that proposed banning chlorpyrifos) overall.
Though it’s unlikely that the budget now proposed by the White House would survive in anything close to an intact state, it does contain a 97% reduction in funds for Great Lakes restoration programs, as well as deep cuts in any kind of environmental monitoring and cleanup programs.
It’s disheartening to consider, especially from the vantage point of Buffalo, where we have seen a river come back to life after a couple decades of intense restoration, and had hoped to see Lake Erie freed from algal blooms and various emissions.
Is it the golf?

Nearly 600,000 hectares of land could lose protected status under a law approved by Congress, an area twice the size of the US’ Yosemite national park Climate advocates are urging Brazilian president Michel Temer to veto a proposed rollback of protections for nearly 600,000 hectares of forest – an area twice the size of the US’ Yosemite national park.
The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) estimates the changes to Jamanxim National Forest alone could lead to 280,000 hectares of rainforest being cut down by 2030.
That would release up to 140 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to half of Spain’s annual emissions.
A statement from the Forum’s Alfredo Sirkis criticised the “irresponsible action of a group of lawmakers” who altered text put forward by the government to radically expand the area affected.
Even parts of the farming lobby, which will be free to expand ranching and plantations if the environmental rules are relaxed, opposed the laws.
A coalition of organisations including agribusiness giants Cargill, Monsanto and Amaggi said in an open letter the move would jeopardise efforts to control deforestation, harming the reputation of Brazil and the agricultural industry.
Up to $215m worth of international investment in the Amazon Region Protected Areas Programme is also threatened, the coalition said.
Report: Brazil’s pro-beef president Temer, betrayed by the industry he courted After a decade of progress, forest clearance for logging, agriculture and mining in the Amazon has increased 60% in the last two years to 798,000 hectares in 2016.
It puts the country off course for its domestic target of limiting the figure to 390,000 hectares by 2020.
Reducing deforestation in the world’s biggest rainforest is also central to Brazil’s contribution towards global efforts to tackle climate change.

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